books.google.comhttps://books.google.com/books/about/Original_Treatises_Dating_from_the_XIIth.html?id=2xgGAAAAQAAJ&utm_source=gb-gplus-shareOriginal Treatises, Dating from the XIIth to the XVIIIth Centuries, [o]n the Arts of Painting,

Original Treatises, Dating from the XIIth to the XVIIIth Centuries, [o]n the Arts of Painting,: In Oil, Miniature, Mosaic, and on Glass; of Gilding, Dyeing, and the Preparation of Colours and Artificial Gems; Preceded by a General Introduction; with Translations, Prefaces, and Notes. By Mrs. Merrifield, ... In Two Volumes, Volume 1

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Page ccxiv - ... under that name must be understood every kind of blue pigment, separated from plants by fermentation, and converted into a friable substance by desiccation ; for those who should maintain that real indigo must be made from those plants named in the botanical system...

Page cclxxxiii - ... darkness. The secret of Van Eyck and his contemporaries is always assumed to consist in the vehicle (varnish or oils) he employed ; but a far more important condition of the splendour of colour in the works. of those masters was the careful preservation of internal light by painting thinly, but ultimately with great force, on white grounds.

Page cclii - The amber-tree of the former world (Pinites succifer) had a richness in resin with which none of the coniferous tribes of the present world will bear comparison, inasmuch as great masses of amber are contained not only within and upon the bark, but also between the rings of the wood, and in the direction of the medullary rays, which, as well as the cells, are seen under the microscope to be filled with ambreous resin, of a whiter or yellower colour in different places. Amongst the vegetable matters...

Page lvii - ... making the lights with the whitest pieces of the spindle tree. In order to produce the shades, it was the practice of some artists to singe the wood by the fire ; while others used oil of sulphur and a solution of corrosive sublimate and arsenic. St. Audemar (No. 165) mentions that saffron was used to stain box-wood yellow ; but he does not say to what use the wood was put when stained. The subjects most proper for Tarsia work are perspective representations of buildings full of windows and angular...

Page ccxcvii - When large surfaces were to be glazed, the colour was frequently rubbed on with all the fingers or the flat of the hand, so as to fill the interstices left by the brush, and to cover the surface thinly and evenly. Another way of applying the colour with the finger, frequently used for the soft shadows of flesh, was to dip the finger into the colour and draw it once along the surface to be painted with an even movement. These touches were called sfregazzij and were distinguished from the process first...

Page xviii - There were no wooden-handled knives, nor more than one or two drinking cups, in. a house. Candles of wax or tallow were unknown ; a servant held a torch during supper. The clothes of men were of leather unlined : scarcely any gold or silver was seen on their dress. The common...